Recipe: The Cult-Favorite Salad from Portland's Pastaficio d'Oro
IYKYK...
The beloved Portland restaurant, Pastaficio d'Oro, run by the husband-wife team Chase Dopson and Maggie Irwin, closes early next month! I’m truly devastated to lose their delicious pastas… but many people will tell you (myself included) that the menu’s sleeper hit is “Maggie’s Salad.” It’s deceptively simple, yet sweet and spicy and herbaceous all at once.
The first time I visited the restaurant, my friend and I chatted with Maggie on our way out. When we gushed to her about the dressing, to generously offered to share it with all of you! (When I DM’d her to ask if she was sure, she replied “Omg! Of course you can! No secrets here!” then sent the full recipe, below. Maggie rocks.)
Maggie’s Salad Dressing (in her words)
65% top shelf honey. I use the company Oso in the Pumpkin flavor. His honey is incredible and he sustainably keeps his bees. They're located just outside of Corvallis, I believe. But a quick Google of Oso will show ya!
35% white wine vinegar, doesn't need to be a top shelf one.
Microplaned garlic. You gotta microplane it! Chopped is too chunky and the immersion wand doesn't release flavor the same way at all. I grew up in a household who always put twice as many cloves of garlic as the recipe said 😂 so go slow but don't be intimidated by the garlic. You want the dressing to be potent because if it's not you have to add more dressing to the salad making it limp.
I use kosher salt to taste, just making sure the dressing flavor is amplified but not actually salty. And a bunch of coarsely ground black pepper. The pepper and garlic together make this sharp but earthy spice dance happen together. When I mix the salad for an order I put a super small pinch of flake salt for a flavor burst.
The herbs in the salad are mint and chive, a bunch of fresh ground Parmesan Reggiano and shaved watermelon radish.
Thank you, Maggie! We’ll miss Pastaficio d’Oro but can’t wait to see what you do next!
So no olive oil? Interesting!
Wow. 65% honey with just garlic and vinegar! Can’t even picture the texture or how it gets distributed on the salad, but I trust it’s amazing! Will have to give it a go cuz above a magical simple salad. Thanks for sharing!